Charges against Occupy protester dropped

Share this:

Alameda County prosecutors have dropped charges against an Occupy Oakland protester who was arrested in January after demonstrators were corralled by police outside the YMCA on Broadway.

Robert Ovetz had been charged with assaulting a police officer, a felony, and obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor.

Ovetz is also no longer the subject of a stay-away order preventing him from coming within 300 feet of Frank Ogawa Plaza, Occupy Oakland’s home base, and the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, which protesters tried to take over on Jan. 28. After police turned back Occupy activists from the convention center, more than 400 protesters — including Ovetz — were arrested hours later outside the YMCA.

Police allege that some of the protesters threw rocks and boards at officers, and that one swung a bicycle. Police said the protesters had ignored dispersal orders, but Occupy activists said they never heard any such order.